Six Years After Woman's Death, Family Still Awaiting Closure

EAST HAMPTON — Another solemn holiday season has come and gone for the family of Trudy Ochankowski, who, six years after her murder, await closure someday from the arrest of their mother's killer.

Trudy's two grown daughters, Sherri and Cindy, with her stepson Donald Ochankowski Jr., spent the recent holidays together, with Trudy's portrait perched on the fireplace mantel to try to fill the physical and emotional void of her absence.

The families shared another grim milestone last Monday, the anniversary of Trudy's death. But they were apart from each other for this one.

``The first years, we would spend time together,'' Donald Jr. said. ``But this year, we just exchanged phone calls.''

Because he'd already left home when his father married Trudy, Donald Jr., 43, says it's been a bit easier for him than for his younger sisters to come to grips with the pain of Trudy's death.

``It's finally gotten to the point where both girls are learning to live with it,'' Donald Jr. said during a break at the package store he owns on Route 66.

``They've done very well in trying to make good lives for themselves,'' said Sherry Engel Ochankowski, Donald Jr.'s wife. ``Their mom would be proud of them.''

The package store is about 5 miles from where the body of Gertrude Ochankowski, 60, was found Jan. 12, 1998, in a shallow stream beneath a wooden bridge, off Tartia Road on the edge of town. She had been strangled. Hours before, police found her Toyota Corolla idling outside the 24-hour Village Laundromat on Main Street, where she regularly washed her clothes. Her pet Shih Tzu, Muffin, was unharmed inside the Corolla.

Police have said they believe Ochankowski was killed inside the laundromat and that her partially clothed body was dumped face down in the stream.

Ochankowski's slaying, the only local killing that many townspeople can remember, stunned this lakefront community of about 10,000. For months her death was the talk of the town, as residents theorized out loud and in private that her killer might be walking among them.

Residents barely talk anymore about the Ochankowski murder, but their memories are never far from the surface.

``It was terrifying, very terrifying,'' said Fay Slack, waitress-manager at Seasoning's, a village center eatery, a half block from the closed laundromat. ``I can't believe it's six years.''

Local police, working with state investigators and the FBI, probed evidence they hoped would lead them to the killer. Forensic specialist Dr. Henry Lee concluded at the time Ochankowski was targeted by that person. Gov. John G. Rowland approved a $30,000 reward to stir an arrest and conviction.

The police department and Middlesex state's attorney's office say they are regularly in touch with each other, as well as the family, and that the investigation hasn't gone cold.

At least three people described by police as suspects were interviewed in the days following Ochankowski's killing. No charges were ever filed.

One of the people questioned, who was never identified because he wasn't charged, lived in an apartment above the laundromat and worked there as a handyman.

Police tailed the man 24 hours daily for weeks after the killing, searched his car and scoured a storage area in the building for clues.

The man, who police have said denied any connection to Ochankowski's killing, later checked himself into a psychiatric hospital in Portland.

In 1999, Cindy Ochankowski sued the laundromat's owner, Frank Carreiro, alleging he failed to provide a secure location for customers as advertised. Hartford attorney John Robinson said the case was settled last year. He declined to reveal the terms.

State's Attorney Timothy Liston said he is waiting for that one witness who may be dismissing a crucial tidbit of information as too trivial to come forward and help crack the case.

``Sometimes,'' Liston said, ``it's those small, little bits of information that tie together with what we already have.'' Anyone with information regarding the death of Trudy Ochankowski can call East Hampton police, 860-267-9544 or 860-267-9922.